Following a doctor’s examination, all patients on the floor were relocated to another unit and an exterminator was called. There are about 12 patients on the mental health floor.

No other bedbugs have been found in any other parts of the hospital, according to hospital spokeswoman Mary Decker.

But perhaps the hospital is overly optiistic about how easily treated the problem is:

All the rooms have been exterminated and are in the process of being reassembled, Decker said. The patients will be moved back to their rooms tomorrow.

“We’re happy we discovered it when we did and are able to treat it appropriately,” Decker said.

Decker said the hospital consulted with several agencies, including the Orange County Department of Health and the Mental Health Department, about the bedbug occurrence. Decker said there was no risk to others in the hospital.

“Each patient was showered and given new clothing before being transported to the other unit,” Decker said.

A hospital is probably an easier place to treat than most homes (due to clutter, furniture, and the way homes are set up), but if the hospital was only treated once, they may need to treat again. They should also inspect the entire hospital for bed bugs.

Patients, families, and other patients may want to know that the patients’ belongings may still be infested, if these were not treated or removed. Employees should be aware that they, too, could have moved the problem around to other rooms or to staff areas (even possibly taking the bugs home).

My heart goes out to those patients, who have enough to worry about without bed bugs.

Thanks to Bugalina, who mentioned hearing about this infestation on the Curtis and Kuby AM770 radio show today.

We all know how difficult it is to exterminate bed bugs, these people make it sound so easy. I hope they realize that bed bugs hitchhike, proficiently. Today, when they mentioned this on the radio show, Ron Kuby made a very foolish statement. He said that most people in NYC get their bedbug infestations from taking used mattresses from the curbside. I wonder if Mr. Kuby takes cruises, or stays in nice hotels when he visits Disneyland. Or, I wonder if people in his bldg. travel, and bring their unexamined luggage into his bldg.. I would like to ask him to follow thru on the Ralph Lauren infestation on Madison Ave., or the infested Fire Station in Coney Island. Or the infested town cars, or if he knows anyone whose kids go to anyone of the 95 NYC and Queens schools where there have been documented bed bug sightings. Yes, taking furniture off the curb should be against the law, as it does cause the bugs to spread. Mr. Kuby should have mentioned that todate , thanks to a narrow – sighted administration, there is no bed bug legislation in NYC..thus people can just throw infested furniture out because no one has given them any directives. .. Because of this we can all look forward to seeing bed bugs in many more places. Why don’t these people who have the power of the media behind them do something that will help us. Instead they act like Ignoramuses ….!

Wait till a year from now, those rooms and many more will be infested… Most hospitals and nursing homes hire ant killers, not bed bug killers… whole differnet ball game and very very rare to find somebody decent. Taking the lowest bidder for all jobs will come back to haunt these medcial facilities.